Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs: News Alert

By Steve Ornstein

Posted on August 27, 2024

Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs: News Alert

In-Depth Issues:

IDF Destroys Thousands of Hizbullah Rocket Launchers – Emanuel Fabian (Times of Israel)
A preemptive Israeli strike took out thousands of Hizbullah rocket launchers Sunday morning, including several hundred believed intended to attack targets in Israel.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Hizbullah intended to launch hundreds of rockets at the north and several drones at central Israel in its attack, which was mostly thwarted by the military.

“We foiled most of Hizbullah’s planned attack, and we intercepted many of the threats launched at Israel,” Hagari added.
Hizbullah launched 210 rockets and 20 drones from Lebanon at northern and central Israel.
Some were intercepted, many struck open areas, while others damaged homes.
No IDF bases were damaged, and none of the drones impacted targets in central Israel.
See also Israel Foils Attacks on Mossad, IDF Bases – Yonah Jeremy Bob (Jerusalem Post)

Hizbullah Claims Attack on Israel Was Success – Gianluca Pacchiani (Times of Israel)
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed on Sunday that the attempted massive attack on Israel, which was largely thwarted, had been completed “as planned” and caused “great disruptions” inside Israel.

He claimed that Hizbullah fired over 320 Katyusha rockets on 11 different military sites and then launched dozens of drones at central Israel.
“According to our intelligence, the drones reached their target…. We achieved and surpassed our objectives.”
Nasrallah denied that the IDF had conducted a preemptive attack, and that it did not destroy Hizbullah’s ballistic missiles.
He noted that Hizbullah’s attack took place on a date of particular religious significance for Shiites, the Arbaeen, marking 40 days after the Ashura, which commemorates the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad and the third Shia imam.

BBC Under Fire for Describing Hamas Suicide Bomb Attacks as “Military Operations” – Patrick Sawer (Telegraph-UK)
The BBC has been accused of whitewashing Hamas after describing suicide bomb attacks which killed dozens of civilians in Israel as “military operations.”
Its Arabic channel reported in July that Mohammed Deif, the Hamas military leader, had launched a string of “military operations” against Israel which culminated on Oct 7.
CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, pointed out that the total death toll in the attacks which Deif had planned was 93, with 80 of the victims civilians, aged 13 to 83.

Yet, the channel has repeatedly described those activities as “military operations” rather than terror attacks.
CAMERA said: “Downplaying Palestinian groups’ responsibility for targeting innocent civilians…has been a BBC Arabic habit for years.”
“Even when the Palestinian groups themselves boast about similar murders, BBC Arabic reporters would often use their own voice to falsely describe them as ‘military operations’ carried out against ‘soldiers.'”

Historical Truths about Israel – Avi Benlolo (National Post-Canada)
Jews are not colonizers in their ancestral homeland. Indeed, the Jewish people are indigenous to the Land of Israel, a fact that’s deeply rooted in history.
It is an incontrovertible historical truth that the Arab states rejected the UN partition plan and launched an attack on Israel immediately following its declaration of independence in 1948.
Equally undeniable is the fact that prior to 1948, there was no Palestinian state – no flag, no national anthem, no sovereign identity.
The so-called Nakba, often cited as a catastrophe, was, in reality, a consequence of the Arab states’ decision to wage war against the nascent Jewish state.
Moreover, few mention the expulsion of over 850,000 Jews from Arab lands, including my own family.
Somehow, the world tolerates an uncompromising and violent Palestinian discourse calling for the genocide of the Jewish people.

Healthcare Giant Purchases Israeli Heart Failure Treatment Technology for $1.7 Billion – Zachy Hennessey (Israel 21c)
Global healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson announced on Aug. 20 that it will acquire Israeli startup V-Wave for up to $1.7 billion.
V-Wave’s Ventura Interatrial Shunt (IAS) is an implantable device, in a minimally invasive procedure, that can alleviate the elevated left atrial pressure that plagues patients with congestive heart failure.
“We look forward to continuing to build a world where cardiovascular disease is prevented, treated and cured,” said Dr. Neal Eigler, CEO of V-Wave.

News Resources – North America, Europe, and Asia:

Palestinians Exhilarated by Hamas’s Ongoing War with Israel – Maria Abi-Habib
In Ein al-Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest community of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, the mood is nothing but exuberant. Recruitment for Hamas and its Qassam Brigades is way up across Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee communities, according to Hamas and Lebanese officials.
Hundreds of new recruits have joined in recent months, exhilarated by Hamas’s ongoing war with Israel. Posters everywhere feature Qassam Brigades’ spokesman Abu Ubaida imploring residents to “fight on the path of God.”
In Gaza, many people have soured on Hamas. But elsewhere, Hamas’s willingness to combat Israel has won new adherents. Their enlistment in Ein al-Hilweh doesn’t affect the fight in Gaza because getting into the territory is prohibitively hard. Recruits typically remain in the community, and sometimes approach Lebanon’s southern border to launch rockets into Israel.
Photos of Yasir Arafat, the once wildly popular head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, were noticeably scarce and faded throughout Ein al-Hilweh. Photos of his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, were even scarcer. (New York Times)

Report: Hamas Leader Sinwar Hiding in Gaza Disguised as a Woman – Marco Giannangeli
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been hiding among throngs of displaced Palestinians “dressed as a woman” after abandoning Gaza’s tunnels, Israeli intelligence sources said Friday. “We have actually been minutes away more than once,” said Shalom Ben Hanan, of the Israel Security Agency, who is involved in the hunt for Sinwar.
“Sinwar will not be sitting in underground tunnels or special underground zones for more than 24 to 36 hours at a time. He knows we can find such underground locations through advanced technology. And he knows if a mistake is made or we find sources to tell us where he is, he needs to be on the move – to avoid that mistake becoming fatal for him. We are looking for him using technology and human intelligence, and believe he is likely to be hiding in plain sight.” (Sunday Express-UK)

News Resources – Israel and the Mideast:

Hizbullah Resumes Attacks on Northern Israel – Yair Kraus
Hizbullah resumed attacks across northern Israel Monday evening after launching a major attack on Israel Sunday morning. (Ynet News)

IDF Targets Terrorists near Tulkarm – Yoav Zitun
Palestinians reported that at least five people were killed in an IDF drone strike in Nur al-Shams near the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Monday. The IDF said the attack was aimed at a terrorist “operations room.” A warehouse full of explosives was bombed in the attack, Palestinians said. One of the dead is Hamas member Jibril Jibril, 20, who was released from prison in Israel as part of the hostage deal in November and subsequently carried out several shootings. (Ynet News)

Israeli Navy Sailor Killed, Two Hurt by Interceptor Missile amid Hizbullah Attack – Emanuel Fabian
An IDF Navy sailor, Petty Officer First Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, 21, was killed and two others were hurt amid a major Hizbullah rocket and drone attack on Israel on Sunday, while on patrol off the coast of northern Israel. Footage from the incident showed an Iron Dome interceptor missile flying toward the sea, before exploding just above the vessel. (Times of Israel)

IDF Soldier Hurt in Palestinian Car-Ramming Attack near Ariel – Emanuel FabianTwo Palestinians in a vehicle on Sunday drove against oncoming traffic toward the city of Ariel in Samaria, crashing into several cars on the way. They then tried to ram IDF soldiers, wounding one, while other soldiers opened fire, killing them.
On Sunday evening, a bomb was thrown at a civilian bus near Maale Amos in eastern Gush Etzion. The bus was lightly damaged but there were no injuries. Earlier Sunday, a Palestinian gunman opened fire in the Jenin area of Samaria toward an IDF post and was shot dead by troops. (Times of Israel)

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:

Hizbullah

- Prepared Israel Gives Hizbullah Another Beating – Hussain Abdul-Hussain
  After a series of impressive intelligence and military operations that culminated in taking out Hizbullah’s top military chief Fuad Shukr, Israel on Sunday gave Hizbullah yet another beating by suppressing a major retaliation operation that the Iran-backed militia had planned from south Lebanon against the Jewish state.
  Israeli fighter jets simultaneously pounded dozens of Hizbullah rocket launchers that had moved into position to start the offensive, taking out most, but not all, of Hizbullah’s attack assets. Israel’s preemptive strike took out an estimated 1,500 missiles before they even launched.
  The amount of damage that Hizbullah inflicted on Israel has yet to be assessed, even though it is unlikely that it was significant. What we know so far is that Israel’s intelligence and military prowess has beaten Hizbullah one more time. The inevitable war between the two should make Hizbullah reconsider its position by accepting a ceasefire with Israel, even without a ceasefire in Gaza.
  The writer is a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD). (Asia Times-Hong Kong)
- Israel Stymies Hizbullah’s Attack – Editorial
  “If someone comes to kill you, rise and kill him first,” teaches Jewish tradition. Israel has no choice but to heed this counsel, as it did on Sunday with Hizbullah. As it always does, Hizbullah called its salvo a great success. Hizbullah’s best direct hit seems to have been on an Israeli chicken coop.
  In greatly reducing the damage from Hizbullah’s attack, the Israeli strike limited the escalation. Hizbullah attacked from southern Lebanon, and Israel kept to that turf as well. For now there are still rules to the game. Israel has the right to defeat Hizbullah, not merely defend itself. (Wall Street Journal)
- Israeli Intelligence Countered Hizbullah’s Plans and Prevented Regional War – Ron Ben Yishai
  Early intelligence from the IDF about Hizbullah’s extensive preparations for a strike on Israel, including the center of the country, prevented severe damage and significant casualties during its attack on Sunday.
  Hizbullah opened fire from southern Lebanon alone, with the clear intention that Israel in its response would avoid striking the Beirut and Baalbek regions, where Hizbullah’s heavy missiles are located. In any case, the situation in which northern Israel is subjected to a war of attrition and continuous attacks must be brought to an end. (Ynet News)

The Gaza War

- War Is Hell, Especially for Those Who Bring It on Themselves – Don Feder
  A war without civilian casualties is impossible, even for those who try hard to avoid them. During World War II, between 350,000 and 635,000 Germans died in Allied strategic bombing. Germany’s cities were reduced to rubble. The German people brought Hitler to power and were his willing accomplices in a war of subjugation and annihilation. In the end, Germany had to be bombed into submission.
- In August 1945, Japan’s war Cabinet was planning to mobilize the entire civilian population to resist an expected invasion, resulting in a “glorious death” for the nation. That’s what Hamas envisions in Gaza, which is why it keeps rejecting proposals for a pause in fighting.
  Like Germany in 1939 and Japan at Pearl Harbor in 1941, the war in Gaza started with an act of naked aggression, resulting in 1,200 deaths, many in the most savage fashion, including rape and torture, as well as more than 240 hostages taken. The Palestinians brought the war into Israel on Oct. 7. Where did they think it would lead, and what right do they have now to complain about the way it’s being fought? (Washington Times)

Israeli Security

- The Jihad to Destroy Israel – Khaled Abu Toameh
  A letter sent recently by the Palestinian “resistance” groups in Gaza to Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of Lebanon’s Hizbullah militia, serves as a reminder that Iran and its terror proxies view the conflict with Israel as a Jihad (holy war) to eliminate the Jewish state.
  For Iran and its allies, the conflict does not concern borders, refugees, prisoners, settlements, or checkpoints. It is actually about their contention that Israel has no right to exist on Muslim-owned territory and that all Muslims must work toward wiping out Israel. In their eyes, this is a religious war between Muslims and non-Muslims.
  Hizbullah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad regularly describe their slain members as “mujahideen” (warriors or Jihadists), devout Muslims who sacrificed their lives against the “enemies of Allah and Islam.”
- In mourning its slain men, Hizbullah has announced that each of them was killed “on the road to Jerusalem.” These Muslim warriors were on a sacred mission to liberate Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Jews. By calling its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” Hamas is reminding everyone that the conflict against Israel is a religious one. Accordingly, any ceasefire or truce will only serve as a reprieve before they resume the Jihad to destroy Israel.
- The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Center. (Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs)
- The Greatest Threat to Peace in the Region Is Iran and Its Proxies – Editorial
  The barrage of missiles fired by Hizbullah at Israel from southern Lebanon is the latest in a succession of outrages that reached its apogee with the Oct. 7 massacres and kidnappings by Hamas, another Iran-backed group. Tehran has been providing Hizbullah with thousands of rockets over the years hidden in villages and houses just a few miles from the Israel-Lebanon border. Since Israel invaded Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attacks, the Lebanese-based militia has fired scores of missiles into Israel. The recent barrage was the biggest so far.
  Critics of Israel have called for a “proportionate response,” but it is not Israel who is responsible. The presence on their borders of heavily armed militias intent on destroying the Jewish state is a reality they have had to live with for decades. (Telegraph-UK)

U.S.-Israel Relations

- The DNC – Like Most of the U.S. – Stands with Israel – Daniel Rosen
  If mainstream media predictions had borne out, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago would have been rocked by massive demonstrations from anti-Israel protesters. Fake news. Americans really stand with Israel. The Democratic Party was expected to face a large number of people expressing their displeasure with President Biden’s support for Israel, urging the U.S. to abandon its alliance with the Jewish state. This didn’t happen.
- It has now become clear through both party conventions that the American people reject Hamas and the ideology that would make excuses for that terrorist band. They recognize who is to blame for the war in the Middle East. Polls consistently show that a significant majority of Americans support Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism. Both parties have already voted in unity on one topic – Americans stand as one with Israel.
  The writer is President of the American Jewish Congress. (Newsweek)

Other Issues

29,000 New Immigrants Arrived in Israel during the War – Ofer Petersburg
Since Oct. 7, more than 29,000 new immigrants have arrived in Israel, most of them from the West. The Global Aliyah Center of the Jewish Agency reported on the 30,000 people who opened aliyah files, thus expressing their desire to immigrate, since Oct. 7.
More than 5,500 opened in France, compared to 1,200 in the same period last year, an increase of 355%. In the U.S., more than 6,000 files were opened, a 62% increase compared to the same period last year. Canada recorded an 87% jump in the number of files, while a 63% increase was noted in the UK. (Jerusalem Post)

Observations:

Israel Must Defend Itself on Its Own – While Cooperating with Allies – Amb. Zalman Shoval (BESA Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University)

The principle “to defend itself with its own forces” is fundamental to Israel’s concept of national security. There is no contradiction between this basic Israeli principle and Israel’s comprehensive cooperation with the U.S.
American military aid constitutes 16% of the Israeli defense budget and about 2% of the general budget. It also entails Israeli access to the American security system, with its wide dimensions and possibilities.
Calling Israel “America’s continental aircraft carrier” was an exaggeration, but the facts that Israel is the only democratic and stable country in the Middle East and that it has a developed technological, scientific, and military capacity have increased its value to the Americans.
From time to time, the idea of a defense agreement between Israel and the U.S. has been floated, but its critics see it, rightly, as a possible violation of Israel’s freedom of military action, without adding much to the existing security arrangements.
The Israeli concept of security, designed by David Ben-Gurion, is based on the transfer of war to the enemy’s territory. Ben-Gurion strove to prioritize deterrence actions and to strive for decisive victory as quickly and overwhelmingly as possible.
On Oct. 7, and in fact well before it, Israeli deterrence lost many of its components. This was the result, in part, of Israel’s refusal to act strongly against the terrorist attacks of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and its reliance instead on the economic benefits of a more tolerant approach.

The writer was Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. twice (1990-1993 and 1998-2000).